Ubuntu Core

A new rendition of Ubuntu designed for deployments on embedded and IoT devices, cloud and more.

Ubuntu Core is a minimal Ubuntu built entirely of snaps, the secure, easy to update and open Linux packaging format. Ubuntu Core is designed from the ground up for production environments and optimised for security and ease of maintenance.

Ubuntu Core, the all-snap Ubuntu

Ubuntu Core is a tiny, transactional version of Ubuntu for IoT devices and large container deployments. It runs a new breed of super-secure, remotely upgradeable Linux app packages known as snaps - and is trusted by leading IoT players, from chipset vendors to device makers and system integrators.

Building devices with Ubuntu Core

Ubuntu Core provides a secure and supported platform to quickly build IoT and embedded devices. The strict separation between kernel & device drivers, OS and applications means embedded engineers and application developers can easily work in parallel. Canonical and its partners do support a number of boards and chipset to build or test your IoT applications from Raspberry Pi to the Intel Joule.

Develop snaps on desktop, deploy from server to IoT

Because Ubuntu Core is such a great production environment for its security and application confinement, we recommend you start your application development using Ubuntu desktop 16.04 LTS. Snaps can be written and tested on the desktop before testing on the device. If your main interest is to build applications for Ubuntu Core devices, visit snapcraft.io to build snaps for Ubuntu Core devices and Ubuntu desktops and servers. You can then use the Ubuntu Store to distribute your snap from servers to desktop and IoT devices.

Get started with Ubuntu Core

Ubuntu Core is supported on a variety of chipsets, boards, SOCs and virtual machines, including: